Pages

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Our Washing Machine Kitty

Max has fully recovered!!! This is such a relief to us. What an absolutely awful experience. Let me tell you about what happened to him. First off Max is our new kitten. We got him at the end of July and he is just so lovey and sweet, plus he's perfect for Preston since he was a kitten when we got him and they can grow up together, so he'll be Preston's cat. At least that was one of the excuses I used to convince Brad that we needed him. Not that it was hard, Brad loves cats.

But more on his near death experience. On Monday night I went down to switch the laundry. Earlier I had stripped our bed of sheets, pillowcases, and comforter and dragged them all down to the laundry room to be washed. The sheets were in the washing machine and the comforter was on the floor waiting for it's turn. So I tossed the sheets into the dryer and threw the comforter into the washer and hurried back upstairs. I still can't remember if I hurried upstairs to watch Grey's Anatomy online and play on the computer or to put Preston to bed. I was in a hurry to get our bedding washed and I was really tired.

So there I sat on the couch catching up on Grey's Anatomy episodes. At 9pm Preston woke up crying. I thought "Come on, you just went to bed an hour ago" and went in to comfort him and put him back to sleep. Plus it was a really good spot in the episode and I really didn't want to pause it. But my baby was calling. Ten minutes later Preston was sleeping again and I headed back to the living room. As I passed the stairs I thought of our comforter sitting in the washing machine and I knew I should go down and switch it. Ugh!! I didn't want to run downstairs, I wanted to go back to the couch and Meredith and Derick. But I forced myself to run down and put the comforter into the dryer so that it would be dry by the time I went to bed.

I remember thinking that it was still soaking wet as I pulled it out and being really irritated about that. Then as I went to toss the end of it into the dryer and reach for a dryer sheet, I realized something was still in the dryer. I thought I must have missed a pillowcase and it ended up being washed with our comforter. Then I really looked at it. IT WAS MAX!! He was just lying there. Not moving, totally soaked.

This is where I get hysterical and things stop making sense and get a little bit fuzzy. I ran up to the front door landing and screamed for Brad. I remember thinking that he wasn't responding fast enough and not knowing how to make his understand that I needed him NOW!! Brad says that I yelled "get it out" and then said "I killed Max" and started bawling, dry sobs. My memory of that is vague, but I know that he moved fast. Brad wanted to know where Max was and he was racing past me. I must have told him the washing machine because he found him.

Then somehow I was upstairs. Brad had Max wrapped in a brown towel (for some reason I really remember acknowledging the color of the towel) and he said he was still breathing. I was still hysterical and shaking at this point. I kept thinking over and over again how could I have been so careless?? Apparently Max had climbed inside the comforter and gone to sleep while I was watching the sheets. And in my hurry to switch the laundry, I'd just picked up the comforter and threw it in without even noticing him. .I didn't know where we were supposed to take him and knew I needed to call the vet. And of course in the one moment that I really really need my cell phone it's off and the battery is out of it. Preston had thrown it in the cat water that afternoon and I'd powered it down and pulled the battery out in hopes of saving my new and super expensive phone. I had to pull up the vet's number online, which let me tell you wasn't easy while I was shaking and not thinking clearly.

We rotate between two vets and I called North Division Animal Medical Center since I knew they were opened late. I cannot believe what the lady said to me. It took me two tries to explain to her what had happened because I was crying so hard and couldn't get the words to come out. When she finally understood me she said, "What do you want us to do about it?? We close in 35 minutes." BITCH!!! I even had to ask her if there was somewhere I could take him. Thankfully she told us to go to Pet Emergency Clinic and gave me the number and where they were located. But still, there was a much better way she could have handled that and I will NEVER take my pets there again.

Brad is at this point yelling at me that we need to go NOW. I use the phone one more time and call my Mom. For some reason it was imperative that I call her right then. Like I said nothing I was doing was making any sense. I told Brad I needed to call her so that someone could watch Preston because he was sleeping. I even asked him if we should wait for my Mom to get here or drop Preston off at her house. Good thing Brad was still using his brain, he said we didn't have time we had to leave now. I told my Mom to meet us at the clinic and into the car we all went.

On the drive down there I was holding Max. Brad kept telling me to hold him up to the heater. He was cold and shaking and in shock. I had washed the comforter on cold. I didn't understand what Brad was saying. Finally he explained to me that if I had sat in a frozen lake for an hour and 14 minutes, the length of our washing machine cycle, I would be cold and my body would be in shock. Once I understood through my haze I pointed all of the heaters at Max on full blast and kept him as close to my body as possible. Body heat would help too, right?? On the way down there we had a cop pull out in front of us at one of the many stoplights we hit, and Brad mentioned that there was a cop and that was a problem. We were speeding down to the clinic in an effort to save Max's life and getting a ticket would be a problem. Since I was full of intelligence at this point I informed Brad that a cop wouldn't pull us over and give us a ticket for trying to save our cat's life. Brad later told me that while it may be true that a cop wouldn't give us a ticket, he would pull us over since he didn't know why we were speeding. And Brad was worried about being stopped since Max was fighting for his life and needed attention fast. Ahhh, I'm clearly useless in a crisis!!

When we got there Brad ran Max in, while I waited for my parents with Preston. The PEC was expecting Max since I'd called ahead and he was immediately taken into a room. When the vet first came in he was not positive at all. He asked how long before we caught on that he was in the washer. The whole cycle!!! An hour and fourteen minutes!!! I know this is exact because our washer has a countdown on it. But after running some x-rays the vet came back and said his lungs looked better than he'd thought they would and it would be a wait and see type deal.

Max did make it through the night!! And even started purring around midnight. Talk about a lovey kitty. Even through all of this he still wanted attention.

Max spent 2 nights at PEC, 2 days at our normal vet, and then finally got to come home. He developed an eye infection, a nose infection, and got pneummonia. But he fought it all off. In fact they might have sent him home after the first day if he'd been willing to eat and wasn't so dehydrated. How was he dehydrated after going through the washing machine you ask. The soap. That's right I used soap. Like I could feel any worse.

So a bazillion dollars later our little kitten is still here!! And home playing, right next to me in fact. He's on some medicines twice a day but otherwise just fine. The vet told us three things. First that Max wouldn't have survived if we hadn't had a front loader. See it is worth it to spend a little bit more on the fancier one!! And two that he has NEVER seen a cat survive the whole cycle EVER!! And three he was surprised at how fast Max recovered. So Max really is a miracle!!

Also, doing laundry is now never a quick process anymore. First I find Max and make sure he isn't in the laundry room, then I physically lock him out of the laundry room. I also check, recheck, and check once more, just in case, our washing machine for anything that isn't supposed to be there. Lesson learned!!!

Kim

I'm Kim, Wife to one, Mommy to two. I love reading, am an admitted tv-aholic, addicted to purses, bad snacker, can't control myself in "The Children's Place" or "Carter's", loves to get away for a weekend or longer, not always prepared, always wishing and dreaming kind of girl. My life has taken me through tons of twists and turns and I couldn't be happier where I have ended up.

Brad

Brad is the hard working supporter of our family and my high school sweetheart. He's a bit of a computer geek and a major movie buff. With all his little quirks Preston and I couldn't love or respect him more.

Preston

Preston is firstborn and only son. He likes to keep us busy and as a result we're always on our toes. An active little guy, who loves exploring, giving hugs, and receiving kisses. Preston stole our attention and hearts away with his birth on July 18, 2007.